Karen Restivo
In Other Words....
A long time ago in a memory far, far away the movie “Amityville
Horror” (1979) had a seismic effect on American cinema.
Just the image on a poster of the house with its two attic-style lit windows peering out on the neighborhood conjured up primal fears in the hearts of moviegoers.
The original theatrical run milked its fans by producing seven connected sequels; the total number of films featuring the word Amityville in the title is well over 45; may it rest in peace (1979-2018).
It generated its own folklore of hauntings raising the hair on the backs of generations.
Ultimately, as decades passed, the rumor mills lost power and the smoke cleared, and the facts determined it was the illusion of smoke and mirrors.
I took the liberty of conjuring up this article’s title “Anxiety-ville Horror” to visually render the emotional similarities found in the mental state of mind from each title.
I’ll lean heavily on the storytelling used on an Instagram favorite of mine, @freedom.from.the.madness on the topic of anxiety.
The setting is a young student questioning an old master on anxiety while sharing tea.
The master says, “To deal with something, we must first understand it.
“So, what is anxiety? When does anxiety come into being? Anxiety is a form of fear about the future. It comes into being when we want the future to turn out a certain way - ‘what should be,’ and ‘what must not happen.’”
The master explains that the moment we introduce the future tense into the present moment expecting a particular outcome, we are cultivating a garden for anxiety to grow exponentially fooling ourselves into thinking we have any control over the future.
The master questions the student, “What happens when the mind says, ‘Give me a method to stop being anxious?’
“It imagines a future where anxiety does not exist and gets attached to it (back to the future again).”
Planning to get rid of anxiety in the future is simply a loop to more and more anxiety.
The master reveals that anxiety isn’t something you have, instead, it’s something you are experiencing outside of the present moment.
The continuous anxiety loop fuels the continued practice of dreaming you have any control over future outcomes.
The student gets to the point, “So what dissolves anxiety? Are we doomed to be anxious?”
The wise master answers, “The moment you do not mind whatever comes, whatever goes, the moment you are completely indifferent to the next moment, only then you can be fully here now.
And when you are fully here now, anxiety has no future to hold on to, so it collapses.”
The anxious student grasping for insight says to the master, “But how can I be indifferent to the next moment? I have desires, I have dreams, I have goals. I live in time.
“Does that mean I will always be anxious?”
The patient master reminds her of what is said in the Gita.
In other words, it is said “you have the right to your actions, but not to the fruits of your action.
“That means you act, but you let go - surrender to any outcome because you are not in control.”
Karenrestivo57@gmail.com